Missing Mom: Difference between revisions

 

Missing Moms are almost always remembered in a positive light, unlike Disappeared Dads. Expect the father to wax poetic about the times they shared, and to tell a female hero "You look so much like your mother." [[Death By Childbirth]] can be a cause of this. The exception to this sympathetic view is the rare cases where the [[Missing Mom]] is both alive and ''willingly'' abandoned her child, in which case she will probably been portrayed as worse than a mere deadbeat dad. Combine with [[Disappeared Dad]], and you get [[Parental Abandonment]]. This can also lead the way to a [[Wicked Stepmother]] if the father remarries, or a child's [[Tell Me About My Mother]]. If the mother is [[Really Dead Montage|dead]], the surviving spouse is almost obligated to have a [[Happier Home Movie]] about her, such as a wedding video or one with the hero as a baby.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

** Ranma left to train with his father at such a very young age that until his [[Hot Mom]] [[Cloudcuckoolander|Nodoka]] showed up to visit he'd forgotten he ever ''had'' one.

** Shampoo's father was seen a time or two in the manga, but never her mother, and she is otherwise raised by her great-grandmother.

** Mousse's mother is never mentioned in the manga and only briefly in the anime.

** The Kuno siblings' mother and Ukyo's mother are never seen or even mentioned.

* In ''[[FLCL (Anime)|FLCL]]'', Naota's mother is ''briefly'' mentioned when Amaro is discussing Kamon's (Naota's Dad's) personal history. She died.

** Having no apparent mother relationship aside of this brief mention may have been intentionally significant to the plot. Consider the fact that Naota grew up in a totally male environment (his grandfather, father, and older brother) and most of the relationship problems he has in the show are with women.

** Eventually it's revealed that {{spoiler|she isn't actually dead, having [[Body Surf|body surfed]] into someone else. Turning this from a case of [[Missing Mom]] to flat out [[Parental Abandonment]].}} When Lelouch finds out, he gets pissed, really pissed. Enough to end up {{spoiler|a [[Self Made Orphan]].}}

** Played straight with the never-mentioned variety when it comes to Suzaku's mother, who is never touched upon. His [[Disappeared Dad|dead father]] is the main tragic plot-point behind his story, {{spoiler|because ''Suzaku killed him''.}}

* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi (Anime)|Ojamajo Doremi]]'': Aiko Senou lives with her divorced father, the cab driver Kenji; her mother, a nurse named Atsuko, lives in Osaka, and they were estranged for a long time. {{spoiler|Kenji and Atsuko get back together much later.}}

** Her classmate Shiori Nakayama is mentioned to have lost her mother when she was young, therefore her father is ''very'' overprotective.

** Not exactly a bitch, just a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] -- exactly like her mother (and, arguably, most of the series female characters). Also, first movie and third OVA are the [[Alternate Continuity|separate storylines]].

* Juri Katou from ''[[Digimon Tamers (Anime)|Digimon Tamers]]'': her biological mother died of illness when she was very young and she never quite got over it, after being told that it was her "destiny" by her father ([[Parents As People|who also never quite got over it]]). She has a good-hearted and caring stepmother, but poor Juri is simply too screwed up to connect with the second Mrs. Katou emotionally, despite actually trying to do so and having no ill will towards her.

* In ''[[Prétear (Manga)|Prétear]]'', Himeno's mother died when Himeno was a child, leading to her being raised by her father Kaoru alone -- as a result, she is pretty good in martial arts, but finds it difficult to behave like a lady, which becomes a problem after her father marries a rich widow with [[Ojou|two]] [[Rich Bitch|daughters]]. (Yes, this plot ''is'' from "[[Cinderella (Literature)|Cinderella]]", [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the manga by Yayoi.)

** In the manga, this is expanded: {{spoiler|Mrs. Awayuki fell victim to [[Death By Childbirth]], and Kaoru keeps it from Himeno to not cause her psychological damage. She actually learns that from her ''stepmother'' Natsue.}}

** Actually, Nathan's comments suggest he was their mother's chevalier, not their father

** Later, {{spoiler|Diva pretty much becomes a [[Missing Mom]] to her babies... being the [[Big Bad]] ''and'' a [[Hive Queen]].}}

** While Uryuu's father and grandfather both appeared in the story, his mother wasn't even mentioned.

* In ''[[G Gundam]]'', Domon's mother Mikino {{spoiler|was shot by the government when trying to protect his brother}}. It's also full [[Parental Abandonment]], since the same incident led to [[The Professor|his father]] being arrested and sentenced to [[Human Popsicle|a cryogenic state]]. {{spoiler|Reversed later, when Dr. Kasshu is cleared of his supposed "crimes" (he was framed) and returns: he's shown as a good person who encourages and even helps Domon to fight against the true [[Big Bad]].}}

* In ''[[Soul Eater (Manga)|Soul Eater]]'' there are a number of these.

** Despite the fact that Maka's parents’ divorce is mentioned, and Maka's estrangement from her father is a plot point, Maka's mother doesn't appear in the anime. The manga has even less information, not even showing that she and Maka are in contact.

* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Anime)|Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. Taro's mother dies in the [[Backstory]] just before the series begins. Oddly enough she's very rarely mentioned during the series itself.

* Jeanie's mom in ''Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair''.

* The death of Kei Enjouji's mother Hotaru in [[Kizuna (Manga)|Kizuna]] is an extremely important plot point, since she leaves behind a letter in which she reveals the secret behind Enjouji's heritage: {{spoiler|he is actually the [[Heroic Bastard]] of Hotaru's former lover, the [[Yakuza]] boss Takeshi Sagano.}}

* Numerous examples in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime)|Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', to the point that the fact that title character has a mother at all [[Crapsack World|is called out]] [[Break the Cutie|as distinctive.]] [[Death By Origin Story|Mami lost hers]] {{spoiler|in a car crash (alongside her father).}} [[Broken Bird|Homura]] is, well, [[Mysterious Protector|Hom]][[New Transfer Student|ura.]] Kyouko, well, let's [[Pater Familicide|not]] [[Deranged Animation|go]] [[Ax Crazy|there.]]

** Penny from ''[[The Rescuers (Disney)|The Rescuers]]'' is an orphan.

** Quasimodo's Roma mother in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' [[Death By Falling Over|is kicked down a flight of stone stairs and cracks her head open]] while trying to save her baby son from Frollo. His dad was arrested, so one can assume he's dead. (Considering Quasimodo has fair skin, he may not be their biological son; on the other hand, he may be Roma and have the fair skin as part of his deformity. In any case, it still sort of counts.)

*** And no mother for Jane Porter, who's been raised by her father.

** ''[[The Princess and The Frog (Disney)|The Princess and The Frog]]'': Charlotte just lives with her father and there's no mention of a mother. Averted with Tiana, though, who has her mother... and a [[Disappeared Dad|dad who was hinted to have died in]] [[World War One]] during the [[Time Skip]].

** ''[[Dinosaur (Disney)|Dinosaur]]'': Aladar is separated from his mother when his egg is unexpectedly taken away from her nest by a hungry Oviraptor while his mother was trying to protect said nest from [[Big Bad|the Carnotaurus]]. The Oviraptor then takes the egg into a nearby forest where it proceeds to crack it open and eat the fetus inside, but loses the egg to another Oviraptor. While the two Oviraptors begin to fight over the egg, Aladar's egg rolls off a ledge and into a nearby river where it is then picked up by a passing Pterodactyl. The Pterodactyl then flies the egg all the way to Lemur Island (home to Aladar's eventual foster family of lemurs) and leaves it there, where he will eventually hatch and be adopted. It's implied that his biological mother was either killed by [[Big Bad|the Carnotaurus]] (who also smashed her other eggs) or was among the many dinosaurs that was killed by the meteorite.

* The child protagonists of ''[[Millions]]'' lost their mother before the events of the film.

* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'' we again see the eponymous panda and his father, and no mother. {{spoiler|And we don't even get to know what happened to her!}}

* In ''[[The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]]'', Bridget's mother is dead, presumably having committed suicide because of mental instability. Her funeral is shown briefly when the characters are introduced. Later, after Bridget {{spoiler|gets it on with her soccer coach}}, she cries and wishes her mom was still alive to talk things over with.

** This is explored a bit more in the sequel, when she visits her grandmother and has a nightmare about her mother abandoning her. {{spoiler|Apparently there had been one last chance for them to get her to get help for her mental problems, but the only way to convince her to do so was if her mother lied that she was alright. Bridget's grandmother confessed that she was unable to lie to her daughter about it.}}

* ''[[The Vicomte De Bragelonne (Literature)|The Vicomte De Bragelonne]]'': Raoul de Bragelonne grew up without a mother, since he's the result of a one night stand and she left him with his dad as soon as it was convenient. (She had her reasons, but still.)

* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire (Literature)|A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' Jon Snow is raised in his father's home as a bastard, never being told who his mother is while growing up. {{spoiler|Or perhaps he's a total case of [[Parental Abandonment]], having lost his mother to [[Death By Childbirth]] and his father to Robert Baratheon}}

* Vlad Taltos of the ''[[Dragaera]]'' series was raised by his father and his paternal grandfather. He has no memories of his mother, has no idea how old he was when she disappeared and doesn't know if she died or left his father, because his father keeps changing stories and avoiding talking about her altogether.

* Brutus in Conn Iggulden's ''Emperor'' series was abandoned by his mother after his father died. However they establish some form of relationship once he's an adult.

** 2 incompetent mothers (''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' and ''[[Sense and Sensibility (Literature)|Sense and Sensibility]]'', albeit to a far lesser extent)

** 1 evil mother (''[[Lady Susan]]'')

* In ''[[Strange Angels]]'', Dru's mom is dead and she was left by her father with her grandmother who also died. {{spoiler|Her mother was killed by the Vampire Sergej and her Grandmother died of natural causes}}

* In ''Laura Leander'', the heroine starts the series with both parents missing: Her mother presumably drowned when she was five and her [[Disappeared Dad|dad disappeared]] about a year ago. However, rescuing her dad is relatively straightforward, (he is "only" held captive by [[Big Bad]]...) and from then on, she fits this trope... Until she manages to [[Rescued From Purgatory|rescue her mother from some realm between life and death]], {{spoiler|at a price of [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time|abandoning all her powers]] }}

* ''[[Step By Step (TV)|Step By Step]]'': Frank Lambert's wife abandoned him and their three children (J.T., Al, and Brendan). Although it is implied that she is still very much alive, she disappeared to parts unknown and has no contact with her children, leaving step-mother Carol Foster to fill the void.

* ''[[Little House On the Prairie (TV)|Little House On the Prairie]]'': In the 1981-1982 season opener, where the Olesens adopt Nancy (an orphan with a severe behavior disorder), Nancy gives a sob story about being abandoned by her mother. In truth, her mother suffered from a condition today known as preecclampsia, and died while giving birth to Nancy. (Since Nancy's biological father was unknown -- remember, the series is set in the 1800s, more than 100 years before the advent of DNA testing -- she was sent to an orphanage.) Her unstable life and frequent moving to different orphanages resulted in her behavior problems and "missing mom" story, which she maintained for years until -- of all people -- series anti-hero Mrs. Olesen (her adopted mother) made her come to terms with the truth.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'':

** Hiro Nakamura's mother Ishi is absent. {{spoiler|We find out she's dead later on, and that it completely shattered Hiro's father Kaito. Further, in the novel ''Saving Charlie'', we find out that Kaito being devastated by Ishi's loss is why he's so emotionless and hard now. When the adult Hiro gets his memories reverted to that of his 10-year-old self, he visits his dead mother via [[Time Travel]]: Ishi turns out to have been [[Healing Hands|a healer]], who uses her powers to heal Hiro's memories and give him the [[MacGuffin]].}}

* Two ''[[Ghostwriter]]'' team members have missing moms. Lenni's mom died when she was little and Rob only lives with his dad.

* The main characters' mother in ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' was drowned by a Warlock when they were very young. Prue saw her die, Phoebe was too young to remember her at all, and Paige never knew her since she was raised by [[Muggle Foster Parents]]. They meet her in the past and some episodes feature her as a [[Spirit Advisor]], though.

* ''[[Being Human (TV)|Being Human]]'' ultimately subverts this in the second season, when {{spoiler|Annie is helping out a medium with his show and her mother attends to try to communicate with her daughter's ghost. The mother later converses with Annie, with the medium speaking on Annie's behalf, and cries because she was unable to protect her daughter. An earlier episode said that Annie and her fiancé moved away at some point, so presumably Annie's mom wasn't involved in her life very much since then.}}

** The fate, as well as the identity, of Rita Repulsa's mother are a mystery to this day.

* Played hilariously on ''[[The Amanda Show]]'' in ''Moody's Point.'' Moody's mom disappeared in a hot air balloon, and it's presented as a case of [[Never Found the Body]] that was quite traumatizing--however, we then cut to Moody's mom several times, floating above the scenes and calling down to the other characters for help.

** Yuna's situation is similar, if reversed. Her mother was killed by the [[Big Bad]]'s monster suit, which prompted her father to go on a suicidal mission to destroy it, and thus make the world a better place for his daughter. This greatly influences Yuna, who follows in his footsteps.

* Like ''X'', ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' is ''flooded'' with this; almost every single main character, as well as the entire villainous force, has [[Mommy Issues|some kind of issue with their mother]].

** [[Boisterous Bruiser|Snow's]] parents are never shown, [[Conveniently an Orphan|nor given explanation for their disappearance]], so he falls into this by default.

** [[Token Minority|Sazh]] lost his wife at some point before the story, leaving him to care for their son, Dajh, and in return leaving him without a mom.

** [[Age Appropriate Angst|Hope's]] mom [[Deceased Parents Are the Best|dies during the riot at the Hanging Edge]], and his entire motive throughout the story is to [[Crusading Widower|take out vengeance for her death]] against ''Snow'' of all people, the man who fought alongside her and attempted to save her life, while she willingly joined the fight (though to be fair, he does admit later on that he only chose to blame Snow and take revenge against him so that he would have a reason to want to keep living). He then comes to [[Parental Substitute|accept Lightning as his new mother figure]] and, by extension, [[True Companions|sees the rest of his party as his new family]].

** [[Hide Your Lesbians|Fang and Vanille's]] families are never brought up, though considering that {{spoiler|they've [[Human Popsicle|spent 500 years frozen]] [[Taken for Granite|as crystals]]}}, any parents they had are probably dead.

* Tifa Lockhart of ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' also has this issue. Her mother died when she was very young. So depressed she was that Tifa went on a dangerous trek to Mt. Nibel (with Cloud accompanying her) in the hopes that she would see her mother again. It didn't work.

* [[The Legend of Zelda|Princess Zelda]] fits the trope, as she is never seen as having a mother. ''A Link to the Past'' and ''Ocarina of Time'' gave her a father, and she usually has a mother figure in the form of her nursemaid/protector Impa, but never a mother. And Link is never shown as having any parents at all (though he occasionally has other relatives).

** Zelda's (or rather, {{spoiler|Tetra's}}) deceased mother is seen as a portrait in Wind Waker (But you can only access the room containing this portrait once, so most people miss it). She looks similar to the Zelda from [[Twilight Princess]], except for donning a very short hair-cut and even darker hair.

** This trope runs rampant in the N64 games especially. In ''Ocarina of Time'', besides Link and Zelda, Malon and Ruto both have fathers but no mothers. ''Majora's Mask'' continues the "present father absent mother" trend with the Deku princess, the baby Goron, and Pamela (from the Music Box House). This tendency's inverted with Anju: she lives and works with her mother and grandmother, but her [[Disappeared Dad|father disappeared]] years before. Cremia and Romani are orphans who have to fend for themselves.

* The three kids in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' appear to have no parents whatsoever. I mean, at the beginning of the game, they're teenagers building a boat to sail away from their island home. Are we just supposed to assume their parents are okay with this?

** Not really correct: The voice of Sora's mother is heard in an early cutscene (she tells him to come down for dinner, and is surprised, when her son doesn't answer). And Riku mentions that he's willing to abandon his parents and home for traveling the worlds. Kairi is a true orphan, since she is living with the mayor (also mentioned in one cutscene). It's implied that the heartless or Xehanort killed her parents, when they took over Radiant Garden.

* Amelia Croft in the ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Legend'' arc. At the end of ''Underworld'', Lara finds that her mom is now a zombie.

** And [[Disappeared Dad|her dad was disappeared/killed by the]] [[Big Bad]].

** And Rosalina's mother in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]''. We find out that {{spoiler|she is dead in Chapter 7 of the storybook.}}

* Both of the heroes in ''[[Dark Cloud (Video Game)|Dark Chronicle]]'' have missing moms. [[Gadgeteer Genius|Max]] has a major subplot about finding his mother. [[Action Girl|Monica's]] is simply never mentioned. {{spoiler|Max does eventually find his mom, but since she came from another time period, she cannot stay with him and her husband Gerald.}}

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'': Homer's mother left to become a political activist, and was on the run from the law until the events of the 19th season episode "Mona Leaves-A", which killed her off.

* In the Original ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' cartoon, no mention is ever made of Spike's mother.

** In an official bio, it is blatantly stated the she was adopted, it is likely this is what Sumdac told everyone to explain him randomly having a baby one day.

* ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'': In both the original and ''Alien Force'' shows, Ben's mother generally does not appear. In ''Race Against Time'', the Live Action Movie, she actually appears full body. We see her hands washing dishes in ''[[Ben 10 Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'', but other than that, she's mostly absent.

* In ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]'', the mother of Hank and Dean was unknown until {{spoiler|the second season when it was revealed that it might be Myra Brandish, Dr. Venture's former bodyguard who fell in love with him and went insane.}}

* In ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'', Gosalyn is adopted by only a father (who is Darkwing).

* In ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'', Spike the bulldog has a son but his mate is nowhere to be seen.

* Pretty much everyone in ''[[Defenders of the Earth (Animation)|Defenders of the Earth]]'' -- King Features' answer to the JLA that teams up [[Flash Gordon (Comic Strip)|Flash Gordon]], [[The Phantom (Comic Strip)|The Phantom]], [[Mandrake the Magician (Comic Strip)|Mandrake the Magician]] and his sidekick Lothar along with their children Rick, Jedda, K'Shin & Lothar Jr -- suffered from this. Rick is orphaned in the very first episode {{spoiler|when his mother, assumed to be but never named as Dale Arden, dies resisting Ming's mind probes. Though they somehow manage to rescue her essence to power the Defenders' super computer, she is never mentioned again nor are Flash or Rick ever shown interacting with the computer as though it held emotional value for them}}. Jedda's mother is never mentioned at all, nor is LJ's (though one might presume that the absent women were Diana and Karma, their father's respective lovers from the source comics), while K'Shin was an orphan adopted by Mandrake.

* On ''[[Phineas and Ferb (Animation)|Phineas and Ferb]]'', no explanation is ever given for what happened to Ferb's biological mother (or Phineas and Candace's [[Disappeared Dad|biological father]], for that matter). Their happy blended family makes this something of a non-issue, however.

* [[Porky Pig]] had a daughter in two recent ''[[Looney Tunes (Animation)|Looney Tunes]]'' projects: In 2003's ''My Generation G-G-G-Gap'', he has a [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]] named Peta, and in 2006's ''[[Yet Another Christmas Carol|Bah, Humduck]]! A Looney Tunes Christmas'', he plays the Bob Cratchett role, with a young daughter named Pricilla standing in for Tiny Tim. In neither of them is there any mention of a mother.

* Let's not forget to mention Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, the [[Hanna-Barbera]] father and son duo. But where is the mother of the family?

* In ''[[Mighty B]]'', Penny seems to be living alone with her dad. We've never seen Gwen's mom either, but since Gwen has five younger siblings, including one who's still an infant, one suspects that she can't be that far away.

[[Category:Nana (Manga)/Characters]]

[[Category:Missing Mom]]